


The Three Sidhe Ladies, or Flaunt It If You've Got It

by Measured_Words



Category: Changeling: the Dreaming, Webercon Whidbey Island Changeling Game
Genre: Beltane, Commoner/Noble, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Established Relationship, F/M, Jealousy, just a little conspiracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 06:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30017394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/pseuds/Measured_Words
Summary: Lou and Trolius attend the Beltane party at Dun Ironthorn, and have to mingle before they can slip away on their mission to try and save the Duke.
Relationships: Trolius Eiluned/Lou Masters
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	The Three Sidhe Ladies, or Flaunt It If You've Got It

"I'm sorry," Trolius said with a smile as measured as his apology, "I already have a partner."

"Another time, then," answered the lady, demurring with equal calculation, perfumed hair and elegant gown flouncing lightly as she turned to rejoin her friends. It didn't take any of them long to find others to dance with.

Lou frowned. "That’s gonna be a thing until we get this show in the road, isn’t it?"

This time his smile was more genuine, and he laced his fingers between hers as the music picked up. "Maybe? You're lucky this is Beltane – at some of these court functions you're not allowed to dance with the same person more than three times all night, let alone more than once in a row."

Her frown deepened. "Remind me never to go to one of those parties."

\--

The second of the group of masked sidhe women was bolder, catching his hand as well as his eye as he turned to address the interruption. "Sir," she began, lowering her eyes in a way that did nothing to soften her approach, "I confess I have been struck by your beauty since you arrived this evening. If you would but give me the honour of a single dance, I am sure we would soon be the envy of all our fellow revellers."

"Ah." He smiled carefully. "My lady, your attention already brings me great honour, and I am truly flattered. However, I have already found a partner for this dance who garners all the envy I can bear, and I wish our fellow revellers only the greatest joys of the evening."

"Very well," she said, dropping his hand and turning away in a slow twirl, but keeping his eye as though to suggest he may yet live to nurse his regrets.

"Oof," he said, turning back to Lou with an apologetic grin, "that was harsh."

She scowled, unimpressed.

\--

When the next masked lady approached, she was caught by Lou's forceful glare before she even completed her advance. The women locked eyes. Hostility roiled between them. The music played on the dancers spun. Their gaze broke only for an instant as Lou turned, her finger digging into Trolius's arms, biceps flexing, US Marie Corps tattoo fully barred in her sleeveless dress. The sidhe faltered, adjusting her trajectory for a less well defended target. "That's right, walk away," the nocker muttered under her breath. Trolius was blushing.

\--

"Time to go?" Lou asked. They'd just got the signal from Lambert – it was time to lay their ambush in the Duke's study.

"Yes, but we're still being watched." People were drifting back into the ballroom from the garden following the Duke's announcement, and among them was the cluster of Sidhe who had decided to be overtly offended at the couple for daring to exist in public. "So I'm afraid…" he leaned in closer, trailing the back of his knuckles down her bare arm before lifting her chin for a kiss, "You're just going to have to agree to be seduced away from this terrible party."

"Guh," she said, the swirling red on her cheeks filling in and deepening at the edges of her mask. Then their lips met, hands clasped. As they slipped away to the ballroom exit, it was to a tableau of jealous scowls, none of who suspected that after they both caught their breath on the other side of the door, their plans to scandalize the upper society of the Dutchy of Evergreen were going to take a very different turn than typical Beltane debauchery…


End file.
